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Tag Archives: jam recipes

Inspired by my travels in Napa Valley and falling in love with the sights, taste and aromas of the wine country is my super easy fig jam. The jam is the perfect when served with bread, cheese and wine. This recipe helps to transport me back everytime to this beautiful destination!

From by the bay wishing you fond wine country food memories!

Maryann

Fig Jam

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves, minced

8 ounces fresh black mission figs, stemmed and split in half

Direction

In a medium sauce pan heat olive oil. Add onions and sauté until translucent. Add all remaining ingredients except figs ( sugar, water, vinegar, salt, rosemary, lemon juice and zest). Bring to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer. Simmer until it is the consistency of a syrup and add figs. Continue to simmer until figs are soft. Cool and place in a covered glass container. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use. This will keep about 5 days in the refrigerator.

It’s almost Valentine’s Day and I’m sure you have seem every chocolate recipe imaginable! But what do you do if your favorite loved one doesn’t like chocolate! I say go bananas with this double dose of banana cookery from two of my favorite chefs! I decided to double my banana game for dessert one evening by making Dominique Ansel’s banana bread. This is the perfect recipe! It is rich, delicious, moist and easy. Seriously this recipe is perfection. The bread stays moist for days if wrapped well. Next up is the banana jam, just imagine a caramel and a banana joined together and that is what this jam is ! It’s great on toast, biscuits and yes this banana bread. If you want to kick the whole thing up an notch serve a slice of banana bread topped with a scoop of vanilla or caramel ice cream and then drizzle the top with banana jam! It’s heaven! Each recipe stands perfectly on its own but in honor of Valentine’s Day it’s about the union . This is a union you will want to experience.

From by the bay wishing you, top banana food memories!

Maryann

Dominique Ansel’s Banana Bread

As featured on Tasting Table courtesy of Dominique Ansel

Preparation Time 1 hour and 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

¾ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 eggs

4 overripe bananas, mashed

14 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing pan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 10″ x 5″ x 3 ½” loaf pan and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, baking soda, nutmeg, salt and baking powder. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and combine with the mashed bananas. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix together until just combined. Stir in the melted butter until fully incorporated. Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Allow to cool for 20 minutes before slicing.

Biscuit Love Banana Jam

Yields 4 cups Preparation Time 40 minutes

As featured on the Food Network Courtesy of Karl Worley of Biscuit Love Nashville

2 cups granulated sugar

3 cups sliced bananas

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Warm biscuits, for serving

Directions

Mix the sugar and 1/4 cup water in a heavy-bottomed large saucepan. Heat the sugar mixture on high heat until the mixture caramelizes; the water will need to evaporate before the sugar will caramelize. Once the caramel reaches a deep brown color, turn the heat to low and carefully add the bananas. Stir with a wooden or heat-resistant spoon until the bananas begin to break down, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the salt and remove from the heat. Stir in the lime juice and vanilla.

Serve with warm biscuits. The jam will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Wait don’t throw out those berries! Sometimes, I have left over berries in my fridge, yes hard to imagine but true. If you find that you have berries that are maybe not at peak left over , consider making this quick berry jam recipe. I used blackberries because they were what I had left over but easily you could be using raspberries, blueberries or strawberries. I have been know to just use whatever I might have left over. It’s so simple to make the green apple supplies the pectin to make the jam and voila you have your very own homemade fridge jam. Serve along with your favorite biscuit, toast or pancakes!

From by the bay wishing you a very jammy food memory!

Maryann

P.S. I love the blackberry version of this jam!

Quick and Easy Blackberry Jam

Ingredients

12 ounces fresh blackberries

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup cored, peeled and chopped granny smith apple

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions

Wash blackberries and pick over for any impurities. Place ingredients in a medium pan on low heat and mix well. Heat slowly for approximately 40 minutes stirring occasionally, until jam comes to a rolling boil. Test to see if jam has thickened by using a spoon to see that it doesn’t run. You can mash the berries or leave the larger pieces. If it’s a little runny no worries it will jell in the fridge. Place in a jam jar and cover. Store in the refrigerator until ready for use for up to one week.

This is the perfect Christmas breakfast. Let me specify that I do not use the word perfect lightly!!!! This breakfast is inspired by two of my favorite cooks, Nigella Lawson and Ina Garten, so how perfect is that! Last Christmas as I settled in with some cookbooks on a snowy night, I reread one of my favorite books from Nigella Lawson, “Feast – Food To Celebrate”. Tucked away in the book was a recipe within a recipe for cranberry jam and I just had to make it! Now, I always had a fear of making jam of any kind. My first reason was a fear of using pectin My second reason was another fear, the fear of canning. I would worry that I wouldn’t seal the jars properly. Nigella’s cranberry jam is so easy that my fears just faded away and the results were delicious! Cranberries are filled naturally with pectin, so making this jam is almost as easy as boiling water. I decided to just refrigerate the jam the way I do cranberry sauce and that decision saved the whole stress about sealing the jars properly. I made this jam last Christmas morning and it disappeared as quickly as Santa did up the chimney. I did have the perfect accompaniment to the jam that morning Irish Soda Bread without the raisins. I use Ina Garten’s recipe because , why fool around with perfection. The only change I made is one that I always do , I switch the raisins to dried cranberries. This switch is a result of the fact that my sister Nancy hates raisins and she loves dried cranberries. I have to tell you that once I switched, there was no going back. You need to try this bread. Nothing beats the combination of warm cranberry soda bread topped with cranberry jam. It screams Christmas, holidays and that something really special is going on. Enjoy – tis’ the season!

DirectionsPreheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the butter is mixed into the flour.

With a fork, lightly beat the buttermilk, egg, and orange zest together in a measuring cup. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture. Combine the currants with 1 tablespoon of flour and mix into the dough. It will be very wet.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and knead it a few times into a round loaf. Place the loaf on the prepared sheet pan and lightly cut an X into the top of the bread with a serrated knife. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. When you tap the loaf, it will have a hollow sound.

Cool on a baking rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cranberry Jam

Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s Cranberry Jam from “Feast Food To Celebrate Life ” published in 2004

Ingredients 12 ounces fresh cranberries 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

DirectionsPut a film of water in the bottom of a large saucepan and add the cranberries and sugar. Stir patiently over a low heat to dissolve the sugar; this will take a little while. Turn up the heat and boil the pan rapidly until setting point is reached, about 7 minutes. (Alternatively it will have reached a jam-like consistency.)Pour the jam into a sterilized jar (s) and seal immediately or keep in the refrigerator for 1 week. Makes approximately 4 cups.